Thursday, March 26, 2009

Digging through the slush pile

Old bricks get lost in the shuffle. It's easy to get excited by new pieces and forget the LEGO that got you to where you are today. The next set always seems like the best set. It's very alluring to keep buying and never stop to think about what you already have in stock. And that's the beauty of sorting, you start to see what you might make with the pieces you've managed to accumulate.

Old bricks are basically the slush pile- the collection of manuscripts or queries that arrive without being beckoned on the desks of agents and editors. Occasionally, you hear about great works being rescued from the slush pile- the kind of story that makes for a great movie in and of itself. But the majority of pieces in that slush pile will remain there to gather dust in a jumble of words.

Today, I'm digging through the slush pile of LEGO. It's tedious and I'm not that excited by most of the bricks I see- they came into my house as extras in a set or part of somebody else's collection. But all it takes is one gem to make it worthwhile like the sweet light blue LEGO lightsaber I just found.